Marathon with 7 weeks of training?

Totally understand! last fall I did a half only a few weeks after my marathon because it was a local race that has a lot of meaning for me. I shouldnt have signed up since I was not recovered from the marathon, and yet I just wanted to finish the race regardless. I sounds like it means a lot to you, so I think you will be fine. Just try to remain active on the weeks you will not be running as much and make sure the few weeks leading up to the marathon have you focused and mentally prepared.

Good questions! Honestly, I think that I can make the time limit without a problem. It was more of a worst case scenario. I want to do this one because of the course. It's not necessarily a great course, but it's very much a "home" course for me. I am never going to be a fast runner. Even though I like to work to improve, it's more about the whole experience for me than a finish time for me.

congrats on finishing your marathon! I think it is certainly possible, and as long as you go into it without a specific time goal (other than to finish), you will be fine. As long as you continue to stay injury free and active, if you want it badly enough, you will do it.

I am curious why you want to do another one knowing you may not finish in the time limit. Is this a specific marathon you have always wanted to do? Your reasons for running it are you own, I would just consider whether it would be worth waiting until you can properly train and go into a marathon trying to better your time rather than just doing it to run another one. I know there have been a few races I have signed up for just to finish a race, and while I have learned something from every race I have ran, some have hurt me more than others. I would hate for you to finish the marathon and get injured which would hinder you from your next goal in 2017. Good luck to you, whatever you decide!

One other thought: In many combo events, you can tell the organizers are all about the marathon and, in comparison, the HM is an afterthought. Vice versa as well. I figure out which is the "good" race of the two and avoid the after-thought race.

While there are more examples of an HM being the after-thought race, I know events where the HM is the main attraction and the marathon is the after-thought. Sometimes you just have to read people's reports ("Not enough food at finish; Food was eaten by all the HM runners who finished hours before us! Masseuses had packed up by the time we finished. Etc.") Other times, it's obvious from the ratio of finishers in the two races. Or when the marathon turns out to be two laps of a HM course. Ugh. Or when they make the marathoners start too early in the morning. Etc.

Can you tell which is the "good" race at the event you're considering?

I'm enthusiastic about having a goal in mind again. I think that I could be enthusiastic about the half instead of the full, but there is something about the full that is enticing me.

My goal for this one would be to finish standing upright and without injury. :) The course cut-off is 6 hours. The two check points are at 13 and 18 miles. They will have sweep vehicles there. I have run this route many times on my own, though, and it's an open course, so I think I would be able to finish on my own even if I miss the official finish line and medals. Even though I am slow, that is a conservative time for me when I'm trained...don't know about when I'm less well trained.

I am not opposed to Galloway (I am slow and not competitive anyway), and I definitely had some intervals of walking near the end of my last full. I've never been disciplined enough to really use Galloway correctly, though. "What walk now? No, I want to keep running." But it would be something different to try, and I know people who say that they've actually finished in a better time using the intervals.

I think I'll sleep on it a few more days to decide if definitely finishing a half is better than maybe finishing a full in my mind. I have decided that I'm doing one of the two at this race.

Thanks for the input! I really am taking it into account.

What are your goals? You could Gallowalk it but I don't know if that's acceptable to you (or within the cutoff since you didn't identify the race). You didn't say how much you're hiking. If you're hiking 15 miles a day or 10 miles up serious hills then you probably have the physical stamina to ramp up in the remaining time and stagger across the finish :-) But I wouldn't count on your current base to be of much help by the end of July.

Since you seem pretty enthusiastic (i.e., you sound like you're going to sign up no matter what), you might also plan on dropping at mile 17 or 20 or whenever you realize it's become a death march. In another words, I'm figuring that if you have to make a choice, you'll recognize that it's more important for you to stay healthy than finish.

I ran a marathon Memorial Day weekend. I used an 18 week training program for that one. At the end of training and throughout the marathon, I swore that I wouldn't do another. That changed the next day, but I was thinking of May, 2017. Now I'm tempted to do another on September 18th. The problem is that we are traveling across country and back for much of July. The days are going to be packed with long drives, hiking, etc. I will make sure that I run, but I will not have hours to devote to long runs at all while we're gone, and I'm not sure how consistent I'll be able to be.

Do you think with the base that I have now that I'll be able to pick up on August 1st and be prepared for a marathon on September 18th if I don't really care about my finish time? Or is that completely foolish and I should just sign up for the half?

Physically, I am completely recovered from the full, but mentally I've been a bit reluctant to really push myself. I have been running a little more slowly and less distance than I was, but the thought of this goal already has my mind perking up. But I'm planning a half or two before then, and they also have the motivation picking up.

Thanks for any input!